


coming home to crumbling walls

by rakuenoasis



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath, Cleaning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Gen, Light Angst, Post-S2 Finale, Sequel, Sleeping Together, They're not okay, Vomiting, just a lot of things really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25990408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rakuenoasis/pseuds/rakuenoasis
Summary: The aftermath is always the hardest part. Cleaning up, for instance, even if the walls will always have a chance of crumbling down once again...is well...hard.The rest of it is way messier than proven to be.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 90





	coming home to crumbling walls

**Author's Note:**

> i just finished season 2 and oh my god

It wasn't the fighting part that proved itself to be the hardest.

Sure, they've faced serious world-ending shit. The kind that spelled apocalypse to all of humanity and the other sentient beings living in both their realm and the Hidden City's. Multiple times, at that. They faced so much world-ending shit and brought-to-life nightmares that even the walk back to the lair, their home, became less of a victorious march and more of a death parade.

Releasing the entirety of New York from _that_ orb was even easier than actually dragging their feet back home.

Coming home to rubble and falling concrete, however, was even harder and way more exhausting than the walk from The Crying Titan.

It was Raph who opted to still push through with cleaning up. And although their old rat of a father had been the most exhausted out of them in all aspects, he ended up having to agree with his eldest son. He reasoned that it was less on the fact that waking up to a broken house would be harder for them later on. But even with their countless attempts and victories in saving New York, the world will never be ready to accept freaks and mutants such as themselves. Even with Big Mama on dormant status and the Foot Clan hopefully disbanded, thugs and criminals still exist within the streets of their city. There would always be danger around them no matter what.

It took some time and a whole lot of nudging from the likes of Mikey and Leo who were very willing to pass out on debris instead of a warm bed. But they forfeited all refusals in the end and took turns into scavenging for whatever foreign object might come into the way of cleaning. (Which were, unfortunately, a lot.)

They found the remnants of their mystic weapons at some point, along with what seemed to be an almost disintegrated skull of none other than Karai Hamato. 

The sight of their so-called "Gram Gram" in this state only made Mikey throw up on the spot. Leo vocalized wanting to take the mystic weapons back to the Hidden City in the hopes of reparations. However, they all silently decided not to mingle with the strange city for a whole while. As it is, they've already caused too much trouble in that place already for the past few months or so. The least they could do is back out for a while, maybe wait it out for a few weeks or so.

Instead, they buried their weapons, the remains of Shelldon, and the lonesome intact skull of Karai in a shoebox somewhere in the sewers. Somewhere accessible to them yet impossible to discover by any other human.

(Donnie took care of that. They could always trust Donnie with this kind of stuff. And Donnie, for all the lack of reliability he has felt within these last few weeks, he could only do nothing but thank them for relying on him like this once more.)

Then came the actual cleaning part. Slabs of debris and concrete thrown into the dump near them along with the all the shrapnels of glass and wood that glued the place together. Torn up furnitures that once held so much familiar warmth now discarded out into the open of New York. It was going to be hard to redesign the entire place, especially for a home where familiarity was what made the lonesome lair warm and welcoming. Navigating the new rooms and hallways would be even harder.

But that was what MIkey was for. In the middle of cleaning, he talked about bigger bedrooms, bigger laboratories, bigger and better television sets no man nor rat have ever seen...well, ever. It led to a playful fight about who'd get the bigger and better room to making a viewing room just for the rat himself. Splinter had been so set on the latter idea that he didn't notice the wood plank that fell on him, despite all warnings coming from Draxum himself.

(It was the first time the turtles and April had laughed in weeks. It was the first time Draxum had let out a genuine laugh in _years_.)

By the time morning had come, they'd already discarded most of the rubble out. All that was needed now was to clean up the smaller matters of debris.

Draxum, for once in his life, had offered for the...well... _his_ family to stay in his apartment for the next few weeks. Food and every other necessity he could think of would be on him. He didn't offer a favour nor exchange in return except to take care of his place.

Splinter could only hold onto his hand and utter, "I knew you'd never betray us." in response.

The mystic scientist could only turn away and mumble that he never intended to in the first place, hiding the red on his cheeks.

(He never did plan on it, anyways. And he never really will. He has sins to repent and promises to make up for, after all. Draxum may be a man of evil by birth and blood. But if there's anything he isn't, it's not having a heart. After all, he has a family to look after now. Might as well stick through it until the end, right?)

They made it in time for the first rays of sun to rise. And although the exhaustion seeped through their veins even more, none of them could sleep.

...

Breakfast was skipped in favour of just giving each other space. Donnie had a new Shelldon to replace, Leo assisted him, Mikey hogged the TV to get his sense of reality back, April had school, and Splinter turned his attention to Raph who's been staring at the ceiling for hours now.

"I'm sorry," Raph spoke for the first time in hours.

"It wasn't your fault," Splinter mumbled, gently caressing the lone bandage on his forehead.

"I should've been better. None of this would've happened if...if..."

Raph didn't bother to finish his sentence. Splinter could only nod in understanding.

"But it did happen. This is reality, my son. Things like these will always happen."

Raph could only choke out a sob in response. For all the teary sessions Raph had done throughout his life, this was the one that broke Splinter's heart the most.

(He may have saved his sons and New York. Even so, he couldn't save his eldest from the emotional turmoil that came after. That pang of regret was even worse than when he threw his Hamato title away, along with each spiteful memory of his grandfather of memory.

Even so, he hugged his son and stayed with him until Raph could breathe once again. Until Raphael could feel himself being pulled out of the murky waters by the arms of his father once more.)

...

Lunch was the same. Except Raph and Splinter finally gave into the slumber afterwards. 

They had grilled cheese sandwiches made from the remains of Draxum's refrigerator. It wasn't as good as the ones they had back in the lair, seeing that it's been mixed with petrifying scents of fish and meat, things that should _never_ be mixed in a refrigerator. But that was Mikey for you, for being able to make something at least edible despite that.

They spent that afternoon in deep silence, until Mikey finally gave up on the TV to turn his attention to a now bored Leo.

"There's no telling what might happen after this,"

Leo could only sigh, for once agreeing with Mikey. "Big Mama will always come back to attack. It's not like Mystic Council can arrest a whacked up capitalist like her."

Mikey could only giggle. "Did you seriously call creepy spider lady a capitalist?"

Leo snorted. "It's written all over her face, Michael. The C in Capitalist stands for big friggin' Criminal. For all you know, she's back up by the Council."

"Because power can make you lose your mind, right?"

"...Yeah," Leo rubbed his head in affection, a smile forming on his face. "Just like what Lou Jitsu's sensei said in _Hot Soup and the Inner Demons_."

Mikey perked up his head, as if possessed by something Leo couldn't point out all of a sudden. "We should have a movie night."

"But we're gonna go back to the lair tonight," Leo sighed once again. "It's dangerous if we just leave the lair like that. Donnie would definitely freak the heck out and call it a criminal act under hazard...or whatever mumbo jumbo big-word term he has for that."

"Even so, the area's still restricted. Donnie's cloaking device seems to be working so far, as well."

Leo huffed. "If only that cloaking device could stay there forever."

"That's like saying you want to stay in Draxum's."

There was a pause that came between them.

"...Maybe I do."

Leo could put his head on his brother's shoulder to add to that effect. "Man, I hate to admit it. But having Draxum...you know... _not_ in the lair...it just hits different."

"Doesn't feel the same?"

He closed his eyes. "Nada."

Mikey could feel a tear form at the corner of his eye. 

"...Thank you."

No explanation needed to be made as Leo finally felt the slumber creep into his system.

"...That's...what family's for...right..?"

...

And then dinner came with only Donnie and Mikey left awake.

"How are you still up after all that?" Donnie asked in curiosity as he poked on his store-bought Caesar salad.

"Pure energy, adrenaline...and anxiety."

"...That's concerning."

"Wouldn't be surprised if it's the coffee that's making you stay up, huh?"

Donnie sighed, his eyes glancing at the rubbish and wires piled up in the corner of Draxum's living room.

"Not just that..."

Mikey nodded. "You miss him so much, huh?"

The older then turned back to his salad. "I didn't even get to say goodbye to him. Was all that effort to change for him not to worth it?"

"Well, the doc isn't in the house right now but,"

And Mikey extended his own hand to hold onto the back of Donnie's own.

"I'm sure the old Shelldon will always live the rest of robot heaven thinking about how good you were to him. Plus, you could finally start fresh with Shelldon."

"Yeah..." Donnie smiled. "No more Purple Dragons to terrorize him. No more witnessing of apocalypses. No more having to play hero when I couldn't be there for him. It's a new life. A new start."

"A new beginning," Mikey continued. "But Big Mama's still out there."

"Amongst many other foes we still have to face."

Mikey laughed in exhaustion. "We really have no rest in this, huh?"

"Some things never change. Heroes will always be heroes until their last breath."

"Like those in the comic books."

"...Yeah," Donnie smiled. "Like those in the comic books."

Mikey pushed his empty bowl of salad to the middle of the table. "Then I'd rather live this life, if it's to see you guys still alive."

"And you better not die out there or I _will_ kick your butt in the afterlife for not fulfilling your end of the bargain," Donnie joked.

"Same to you, bro."

The emptied bowls of salad were left untouched after that. And even if the rest of their family has been knocked out of their senses, Donnie and Mikey still ended up watching _Hot Soup and the Inner Demons_.

April came in at some point, drenched in sweat and lacking of life.

"Scoot over," April groaned, sitting next to Donnie. "Not even being possessed by some ancient and magical old lady could save my life from today."

Donnie huffed. "Should've listened to us when we told you to not go to school today."

"Shut..." April yawned, letting her head fall onto Donnie's shoulder. "...up."

They didn't talk for the rest of the movie. Soon after that, Donnie joined April in their one big sleeping session. By the time Draxum came home, Mikey was already close to giving up on staying awake.

He felt a hand run through his head.

"You'll blow your stupid brain out if you keep this up," Draxum mumbled.

"...I know."

"...And...Mikey...?"

A part of Mikey's senses suddenly woke up at the sound of his name being called. By none other than Draxum, to his surprise.

"...Hmm...?"

"...Thank you," Draxum mumbled. "I always have considered going back to my old ways even if you gave me this life. But watching you all...seeing you all together...making a place for me even if you didn't need to...somehow, it felt like between this and my old life..."

"...This one's more worth it, right?"

Draxum nodded. "Hmph. And you still have the energy to talk. We still have a sewer place to repair, turtle. We don't want you falling asleep in the middle of work."

Mikey laughed softly and leaned onto Draxum's touch. "Got it, sir. Night...night...dad..."

Draxum did not move from where he was. Instead, he sat down next to the turtle. And after watching the rest of the turtle-rat-human family asleep soundly on the couch, he finally let the exhaustion creep over his veins. Unconsciously, he let his head fall onto where Splinter's was, leaning onto the hairs of his head.

For all that effort he had put into plotting vengeance and experiments left and right, even being called "dad" seemed worth it than any other praise he's received in his former life.

And although it might have been the sleep doing the talking his mind, Draxum was glad that he chose this family above everything else.

**Author's Note:**

> this was so rushed and written purely out of the emotion i felt after season 2. god. and to think nickelodeon is so adamant to getting this show out. bad choice, nick. bad choice.


End file.
